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CHAPTER ELEVEN

SACRAMENT  OF INITIATION

THE HOLY COMMUNION

CELEBRATION OF THE NEW COVENANT

A covenant, in its most general sense, is a solemn promise to do or not do something specified.

 A covenant, in contrast to a contract, is a one-way agreement whereby the covenantor is the only party bound by the promise.

 A covenant may have conditions and  prerequisites that qualify the undertaking, including the actions of second or third parties, but there is no inherent agreement by such other parties to fulfill those requirements. Consequentially, the only party that can break a covenant is the covenantor.

 In the Bible we can see a series of Covenants.  In a way every dealing with God of each person is a covenant.  The whole bible history can be classified under three covenants. 

1.  The Universal Covenants – Adamic Covenant and Noahic Covenant

2.  The National Covenant:  Abrahamic Covenant, Mosaic Covenant, Davidic Covenant

3.  New Covenant

Essentially we talk of two communal covenants.
The Old and the New

 Our interest here is only for the last two especially the Mosaic Covenant and the New Covenant.  This is because one complements the earlier, the latter  perfected the earlier

The Old Covenant was given at the foot of the Mount Sinai when God himself talked to to over 2.5 million people (including men, women and children).  At the end of the covenantm it was confirmed by the blood followed by a covenant dinner.  This is described in Ex 24.  74 representative elders of Israel sat around a dinner table presided over by the pre-incarnate Jesus himself in human form with hands and partook of food together in the traditional common plate.

The rest of the congregation stood worshipping far from the mountain, at its valleys.

This is the Old Covenant

This was the time when the ten commandments were given to world through Moses.  The Israel then became a community of Law.

 This was the historical background of placing the Ten Commandments at the entrance of the courthouses in USA.  It declares that Laws are not manmade but are the prerogative of the divine will.  The least mankind can do to live amicably is by obeying the law and remain as a Community of Law.  But that was only the beginning. In the Community of Law, the power is vested in each individual which then delegates it to the Government.  This is the basis of Democracy.

The first covenant celebration was also a celebration of freedom from slavery.  It was remembered throughout history as the celebration of the Passover. 

“This is the New Covenant in My Blood”

Jesus instituted the Holy Communion during the
Pesach Celebration of the Old Covenant

 The Holy Communion was instituted by Jesus in the upper room after a period of being with the chosen people (the disciples) with twelve Apostles which culminated in the proclamation of the Second and the New Covenant.  Just as he gave the ten commandments during the first Old Covenant Ceremony, he gave his disciples a new commandment.

He demonstrated it by washing his disciple’s feet. 

The New Covenant also was sealed with the blood – “in my blood”.

To understand the significance of the New Covenant we need to look into the celebration of the Pesach which Jesus and his disciples performed and how Jesus changed it into the New Covenant Ceremony.

Exodus 12 and 23 deals with this.  During the tenth pestilence when the angel of death passed through the streets of Egypt and destroyed all the first born of both man and beast, God gave a protection to the children of Israel from the destroyer by the cover of the blood of the lamb.  The Angel of death passed over the houses on which the blood was placed.  As a result the children of Israel got their freedom and they crossed over the Red Sea on dry ground by a miracle and they became the Kingdom of Priest, a Holy Nation and God’s people so that they may declare the truth of the God to the rest of the mankind. 

Exo 12:1 -7  The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, "This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. 

Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they shall take every man a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household;

Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old; you shall take it from the sheep or from the goats;  and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs in the evening.

Then they shall take some of the blood, and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat them.

Exo 12:8-10  They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.   Do not eat any of it raw or boiled with water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. And you shall let none of it remain until the morning, anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.

The manner of roasting it, according to Jewish writings, was this:
 a spit made of the wood of pomegranate is thrust into its mouth right through it.  (Mishnah Pesachim 7.1,2)  Maimonides (Hilchot Korban Pesach, 8.10), adds that  "they transfix it through the middle of the mouth to its posteriors, with a wooden spit, and they hang it in the midst of a furnace, and the fire below:"

  Justin Martyr (Justin Martyr, Dialog. cum Trypho Jud. p. 259), says that the lamb was roasted in the form of a cross; one spit, he says, went through from the lower parts to the head, and again another across the shoulders, to which the  fore legs of the lamb were fastened and hung.  It was in every way a type of Christ on the cross.
(The lamb was dropped from the seder when the temple was destroyed in A.D. 70. The use of a roasted lamb or shank-bone of lamb came back in but cooked in a different way to distinguish it from the Passover lamb itself. )

Exo 12:11  In this manner you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's passover.

Exo 12:11  In this manner you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in

your hand; and you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD's passover.

Exo 12:12-14 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD.

The blood shall be a sign for you, upon the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall fall upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

"This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as an ordinance for ever

Passover Celebration of the Jews today

It begins with:  Chametz?  No leaven should be found in your household.  Leaven stands for decaying forces which breaks down the good food.  It is a symbol of sin in the Bible.  During the seven day festival Pesah, Yeast is purged from the Jewish home.  It is made clear symbolically by the head of the household searching and finding and burning these yeast and yeast contained food.

The Search for Chametz  and destroy

Exo 12:17 -20  And you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt: therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as an ordinance for ever. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, and so until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses; for if any one eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land.

You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread."

The Burning of Chametz

The Seder

The word Seder means order, indicating that all the commandments and rituals of this evening are to be performed in a specific order. Remember that this was the pre-Christian Communion liturgical order.   In every Hagadah we find the traditional sequence of various steps of the Seder outlines by the terms Kadesh Urchatz etc.

There were fifteen steps leading to the Temple, corresponding to the fifteen Shir Ha’ma’alos (songs of Ascent) found in Psalms. Similarly, the Seder follows a fifteen stage-process of ascent.

Kadesh -the recitation of Kiddush: 

“Blessed are you, O Lord our God, king of the universe, who has created the fruit of the vine. . . . And you, O Lord our God, have given us festival days for joy, this feast of the unleavened bread, the time of our deliverance in remembrance of the departure from Egypt. Blessed are you, O Lord our God, who has kept us alive, sustained us, and enabled us to enjoy this season.”

3 blessings: Over wine, Over festival & Praise of God .  The 1st cup is called the cup of sanctification [Luke 22:17]

Kos Rishon (the First Cup)

Then the first cup of ritual wine is poured and the first verse of Exodus 6:6-7 is recited by the father:

“I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.”

The wine may now be drunk.

Urchatz -washing the hands.

 

Karpas -eating a vegetable dipped in salt-water.
 The Passover was in the spring. Salt symbolizes tears & pain.

The head of the house dips bitter herbs (traditionally lettuce or celery) into salt water or vinegar. He dips the bitter herb together with the chief guest of honor (the person on his right), and then the bitter herbs are passed on down the table.

The table is now cleared.  

Maggid -the recitation of the Hagadah.

Narration of the Story of the Exodus:
Bread of Affliction / The Four Questions / We were slaves / The Four Children / Texts / 10 Plagues
Concludes with 2nd cup, the wine of wrath or freedom

Kos Sheni (The Second Cup)
Some wine is poured out for each plague. The cup is not consumed.

All food is now returned to the table.
Father now explains the significance of the lamb, bitter herbs, and unleavened bread.
Singing of the first half of the Hallel Psalms: Psalms 113-114.

Prayer over the Second Cup

“Blessed are you, O Lord our God, king of the universe, who has created the fruit of the vine. . . .

Exodus 6:6b: “I will deliver you from their bondage”

Rachtzah -washing of the hands a second time.

This hand-washing is done for the unleavened bread.

The Paschal Lamb, charoseth with vegetables, and two of the unleavened bread wafers are served.

Matzah -the recitation of the blessing al Achilas matzo, eating the (Unleavened bread) matzo.

Prayer over the bread (by the father):

“Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the univese, who brings forth bread from the earth. Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with your commandments, and commanded us to eat unleavened bread.”

Breaking of the bread:

The host breaks the guest of honor’s bread and they dip it together in the charoseth and bitter herbs. The guest in turn breaks his neighbor’s bread and they dip it together, and so on down the line.

Shulchan Oruch -eating the festive meal.

Bayrech -the recitation of grace.
Grace after the meal.
3rd cup of wine is called the cup of redemption 

Kos Sh'lishi (the Third Cup)

“Blessed are you, O Lord our God, king of the universe, who has created the fruit of the vine.

The Third Cup: Prayer and consumation

After the meal, the third cup is poured. The last of the unleavened bread wafers is blessed, broken, and eaten:

“Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth. Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with your commandments, and commanded us to eat unleavened bread.”

All participants recite the post-meal grace together, and then the prayer over the wine.

“The name of the Lord be blessed from now until eternity. Let us bless him of whose gifts we have partaken: Blessed be our God of whose gifts we have partaken, and by whose goodness we exist.”

Then the father recites the third verse from Exodus 6:6:

“I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.”

 Then the wine is drunk.

No non-ritual wine may be drunk between the third and the fourth cup.

Hallel -the recitation of Hallel psalms of praise. Psalms 115-118

The Fourth Cup and the final Hallel Psalms:

Kos Revii (the Fourth Cup)

The fourth cup of wine is poured and blessed by all:

“Blessed are you, O Lord our God, king of the universe, who has created the fruit of the vine. . . .

Then the father recites the fourth verb from Exodus 6:6-7:

“Then I will take you as my people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.”

Psalms 115-118 are now sung as a closing hymn

The names for each of these different stages are referred to as Simanim, - signs.  This seder might have developed over the ages.  At least some part of the seder was practiced at the time of Jesus as the gospel reflect them.  A possible tallying is given below.

Now on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus' disciples asked Him, "Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?"

See Mark 14:12; Matthew 26:17-19 and Luke 22:7-8. Surely, this record in all three Gospel narratives established the fact that Jesus and His twelve Jewish disciples planned to sit down and observe the annual traditional Passover Seder.

The modern Jewish Passover Seder was not fully developed into a ritualized structure in Jesus' time. It began to be fully developed into a ritualized structure of 15 steps only two centuries after Jesus' lifetime.  Therefore many of the modern seder steps are added later for the purpose of teaching the children within the Jewish home.  Strangely enough many of these show heavy influence of Mesianic hope which directly connects them to the Messianic Jewish influence.  Thus we see the Affickomon the middle Matzah broken and hidden so that the children can find them.   At any rate the basic elemental sedear portions of  the four cups of wine, the three unleavened bread, the bitter herbs and hallel singing  were most likely present at the time of  Jesus.  These are indeed reflected in the gospel narrative of the last supper.   

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indicating that the broken bread represented the Incarnate God

Afikomen
represents the sinless, broken, bruised, whipped and pierced body of Jesus
wrapped in a shroud  and  hidden for three days. 

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Jesus – Our Pass Over

Jewish Passover celebration is a celebration of the freedom of the Hebrews from bondage in Egypt.  At the Last Supper Jesus redefined it as  the "Passover" deliverance from the bondage of sin.  The lamb that was slain was Jesus himself. John declared Jesus as the perfect sacrificial lamb.

Joh 1:29  On the morrow he sees Jesus coming to him, and says, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

On the Passover day Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem at the head of the procession of sacrificial lambs led by the High Priest and the levites under the loud cheers of  Hosanah.

Mat 21:6 -9  But the disciples, having gone and done as Jesus had ordered them,  brought the ass and the colt and put their garments upon them, and he sat on them.  But a very great crowd strewed their own garments on the way, and others kept cutting down branches from the trees and strewing them on the way.   And the crowds who went before him and who followed cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed be he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest.

Then during the supper taking the bread and wine Jesus  defined the new Covenant in his own blood which was shed later to confirm the covenant.

By connecting the New with the Old, Jesus affirmed the continuity of the revelation.  The Lord’s Supper is still semiotic and speaks to the people.  Its purpose was to be remember the death, resurrection and the second coming of Jesus.  Together these three forms the hope of the world – the Redemption.

This is my body broken for you.

The Afikomen Matzah represents the broken body of Jesus caused by the 39 lashes with metal tips.

There were four cups of wine on the table.  Each refers to one of the promises of God to the people of Israel – viz,  deliverance, freedom, redemption and consummation - as is shown in the figure below.

 The Mishnah says that even the poorest man in Israel must drink the four ritual cups, even if it means selling all his possessions! The wine used was red and warm, a custom we are continuing this evening. A prayer is uttered over each cup, and the four statements of  “I Will”  of Exodus 6:6-7 are recited, one over each cup.

Mat 26:27-28  And he took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many unto remission of sins.

The order of the Seder is the fourth cup before the Hallel.  However Jesus did not complete the Seder that way.  The fourth cup was never poured.